On the walls of Avi’s studio live his heroes. Much like a kid puts up posters of this season’s home run leader, or a scantily clad Mrs. September- Avi has his influences pasted to the worn-in garage walls. On one wall, you have Neil Young, perhaps Avi’s most obvious comparison. Across from that, the booklet from Person Pitch sits next to the album cover for Sonic Youth’s Dirty. And on the far wall, an old image of either Les Paul or Hank Williams- we debate for a minute. It turns out to be Hank Williams.

His home studio is an empty garage at his grandmother’s house. It’s one of those places that look like it never grew out of the 1950’s. We joke about being stuck in scenes from Mad Men. Avi sets up in front of the Hank Williams poster. He tweaks his amp and full pedal board to get his nearly mystical, reverb drenched guitar tone. Noodling a bit before we get started, Avi talks about his new album and how he plans to give it a go in the producer chair. Oh yeah, and he is going to use some porn samples. As Avi begins to play, his innocent voice weaves between waves of liquid guitars. I look over at the Neil Young poster and I swear I see him wink at me. But the beauty of Avi’s sound is only half his brilliance. Lyrically, Avi shows a maturity far past his age. His songs show an understanding of relationships and youth that most people don’t think about until hitting some sort of mid-life crisis.

Finishing 3 or 4 songs inside, the shoeless Avi recommends we go down to a plant nursery to film some acoustic songs. We are more than happy to oblige. After hopping stone walls and scaling semi-rusted fences (Avi doing this all barefoot), we find ourselves in some sort man-made forest. You’d swear you were just outside some rural villa if it weren’t for the cars racing by on the surrounding highways, but Avi’s rustic sound combats the near-by engines, and for a few minutes you’re not in Long Beach anymore.

The QM crew drove back to LA that day almost speechless. If Avi’s age is worth mentioning, than it is only because it demonstrates how early in his career he is. To create a sound that can honestly be described as timeless, is an impressive feat regardless of how old you are. It is clear that Avi is going to have a brilliant musical career. A career warranting his own poster on studio walls.